In a long discussion thread on TitusOneNine, a commenter, the Rev. Kevin Maney, asked me (cordially): Why would you want to follow a dead guy? Here's an edited version of my response.
I try to “follow Jesus” for two main reasons:
1. Jesus stressed the Summary of the Law: I’m persuaded that the Summary of the Law, which Jesus emphasized, touches on something fundamental in the fabric of the universe, at the heart of the processes by which the creation continues. Specifically, we seem to do our best in life — both individually and as a species, both in passing on our genes to future generations and in serving as God's created co-creators:
- when we put God first — more concretely, when we face the facts of the reality that he wrought, and when we rejoice in, or at least acknowledge, the goodness of that reality; and
- when we seek the best for others as for ourselves.
2. Jesus was faithful, even unto death, to what he believed to be his duty. For whatever reason(s) — growing up in the military, my own military service, whatever — that kind of faithfulness is a huge hot button for me.
These are the two main reasons why in an earlier posting I called Jesus a heroic prophet, someone eminently worthy of admiration and emulation. Off the top of my head, I can think of several other qualities about him to admire and emulate:
3. Jesus was personally kind. I’m going to assume readers can “take judicial notice” of this without my having to cite chapter and verse.
4. He was willing to admit that he didn’t know everything, viz., the day or the hour when the Son of Man would come in the clouds with great power and glory [Mk 13.31-32].
5. He believed in facing facts. When the imprisoned John the Baptist sent emissaries to ask Jesus, are you the one who is to come?, Jesus responded, look around you, and draw your own conclusions: "the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them" [Matt 11.5]. When predicting the return of the Son of Man [Mk 13], he urged his listeners, pay attention to what you see happening around you!
6. He was willing to change his mind, to be persuaded by other points of view, viz., that of the Syrophoenician woman whose daughter was cured even though she was not an Israelite [Mk 7.24-30].
7. He was willing to “tell it like it is,” another matter for judicial notice.
8. He was personally courageous, physically confronting the moneychangers in the temple, and seemingly not being rattled by the crowds that wanted to kill him.
On reflection, it probably would be fair to characterize what I do as seeking, not to follow Jesus as Jesus, but to conduct my life in accordance with the principles and values that he emphasized and exemplified.
Phrasing it another way, I put Jesus in roughly the same hero category as the late Dr. Michael DeBakey, who died a few days ago — except that:
- Jesus’ impact on the world has so far been several orders of magnitude greater than that of Dr. DeBakey;
- so far, none of Dr. DeBakey’s later followers have taken it upon themselves to persecute and even kill those who disagreed with them.
Granted, arguably this view of Jesus is scarcely any different than wanting to “be like Mike” [Michael Jordan]. But I don’t see a problem with that.
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(This is an aside, following up on a personal comment thread from this URL:
http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/index.php/t19/article/15149/)
D.C., thank you for your link. After reading the "Jesus" category you pointed me to, I weep for thee. May God bless us both, miserable sinners.
Posted by: cmsigler | August 04, 2008 at 07:18 PM
Just wanted to say I enjoy your thoughts, particularly this post.
Posted by: Joel | September 29, 2008 at 12:14 PM